


Mission Completed?

by ThisIsLizz



Category: zombies run
Genre: Zombies Write!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-27
Updated: 2013-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-30 15:42:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1020445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisIsLizz/pseuds/ThisIsLizz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The five times Runner Five nearly caught the unsub and completed her mission, and the one time she actually did.</p>
<p>When something goes wrong during a young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's first mission, she does everything to make up for the mistake. She focusses on catching the unknown person who stole important data and some samples of the really dangerous "Aurora" chemical. Five times she gets close to catching the unsub, but when she finally does, there is still one important question left to be answered...</p>
<p>akuracain asked for a five and one AU fic where someone was a spy/S.H.I.E.L.D. agent before the outbreak. So here you go, I hope you like it ^__^</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mission Completed?

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually a prequel ... mid-quel ... let's say trailer. No spoilers for Season 2!
> 
> When I first read the prompt I had no idea what to do with it, but then this huge spy-investigation-whodunnit-story came into my head. Much too big for Zombies Write, and impossible to do within just one month. So I decided to write this fic to talk about Runner Five's time as an agent before she came to Abel.  
> I'll use nanowrimo and december to write the actual story. Until then, enjoy the small glimpse into a world where S.H.I.E.L.D. and Abel Township coexist. As well as zombies. And maybe Rofflenet porn. But that's not important to the story. Not yet ;)
> 
> Warning: I didn't have much time to edit and prove read, so there will be a version with fewer mistakes online soon. For now: If you find mistakes, you may keep them ;)

 

**The Five times Five nearly caught the unsub and completed her mission, and the one time she actually did**

 

 

_"unsub", unknown subject, abbrevation used by police authorities to refer to a person of interest whose identiy is unknown_

**The first time Runner Five nearly caught the unsub and completed her mission was months before she became Runner Five, back in the days when she was still “Newbie”, when life was still normal, when the dead stayed dead and zombies only a work of fiction.**

 

Weeks before the end of the world, she was standing in front of a hotel room door. Nervous, but ready.

“ _Okay, Newbie, you know what to do, right_?” Even through the earplugs she could hear that Miguel was a little nervous. Understandable, it was her first mission as an active field agent after all. And a lot depended on getting inside that room. “ _Don’t screw that up, okay?_ ”

She nodded, knowing they could see her via the surveillance cameras in the hallway.

“ _Mission Roomservice is go go go._ ”

She took another deep breath, held the freshly folded sheets in her arms a little tighter and knocked at the door.

“Go away!” 

She knocked again. 

“Who is this? Get lost!”

She cleared her throat. “Roomservice, sir!”

“We didn’t order anything.” He sounded further away from the door now, she could barely understand him anymore.

“I bring fresh sheets.”

“I don’t need any!”

Was that the voice of a window sliding open? Damn, this wasn’t going well. Time for plan – Suddenly, she was pushed aside. “He gets away, MOVE!!!” Before she could react, she was shoved out of the way by a colleague, and there was a loud bang. The lock exploded, when Sergei shot at it. He kicked the door open. “Move, move! We must get them!” 

“Dammit!” She  drew her gun anyway, and followed him into the room, two more agents right behind her.

“DON’T MOVE!” Sergei shouted.

The young man with the dreadlocks dropped the back bag full of electronic supplies and pulled out a gun. She shot, missed, and dived behind the sofa. Within seconds, the hotel room was a battle field, bullets shooting through the air.

“Rex, drop your gun!” Sergei was kneeling behind a flipped over table. “Surrender!”

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of movement. There, in the bottles on the bar, a reflection! Someone was moving in the bathroom. She glanced over the edge of the couch, Rex hid behind the bed, blindly firing his gun in all directions. She needed to do something about the other person in the bathroom, and she had to do it fast! When Sergei fired a few more shots at the man with the dreadlocks, she jumped up and sprinted to the bathroom door. 

“NEWBIE, DOWN!!”

She reacted, dropped to the floor again and could only catch a glimpse of someone disappearing through the bathroom window. More bullets soared over her head, then there was silence.

“THE SUSPECT IS DOWN!”

That’s all she needed to hear, she jumped up again and raced into the bathroom. The window was still open, she leaned outside.

Someone was sitting on the back of a motor bike, down in the narrow street. She couldn’t figure out if it was a man or a woman, because of the thick, black leather jacket and the helmet. And then, the person looked up, looked at her, saw her – and with a salute,  sped up and raced down the street 

“Miguel!! The other unsub is escaping. On a motorbike!!” she shouted into her mic. The second she had her gun out and aimed, the motorbike was way out of reach.

“ _We’re at it._ ”

She could only watch the motorbike disappear at the end of the street, turning left, and the unsub was gone. Dammit, she was so close to catching them!!

The living room was still a total mess when she left the bathroom. She heard Miguel in her ear: _“What about the other suspect, Rex? Is he…?_ ” The young man with the dreadlocks was lying on the ground, not moving. Not breathing. There was blood everywhere. Head shot. Nice, but not necessarily clean. Not at all.

“I don’t think he will be helpful…”

 

 

She left the conference room on the first floor of the hotel, where they had installed their temporary headquarters, leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. The debrief with her supervisor and the others didn’t go well, Agent DeRosa wasn’t pleased with how things had turned out. One of the culprits dead, the other still unknown and gone, the Aurora samples disappeared. Failure.

“Hey, Newbie!” Sergei closed the door behind him.

“What?”

He was angry, of course he was. After what she had said during the debrief…  “What the hell did just happen, why did you tell DeRosa it was my fault? Are you blaming me for that disaster? I was just bad luck, I was trying to stop them!”

“By storming into the room and shooting?!”

“It was the only way  to catch them!”

“It was not according to protocol!”

Sergei just shrugged. “I improvised.”

“You … YOU …” she gasped. “Rex is dead, and his partner is on the run, ditched the motorbike and is on the way to who knows where! It was _our_ mission to secure the _Aurora_ samples! If they fall into the wrong hands it will be Red Skull all over again! We failed! How could you-”

She cut herself off when she heard steps. No need to discuss this when other people were listening. She was a professional after all, some things should not be talked about in front of audience.

A young man with short hair hurried around the corner. She had seen him before, but didn’t remember his name. "Where is Agent DeRosa?"

“Inside” Sergei nodded towards the door. “But they are still discussing-“

“No time for that!” Before any of them could answer, he was already through the door.

Now _that_ sounded promising! What was it? A new clue? Did they find the second unsub? Maybe they still had a chance!

A few seconds later, the door opened again. Agent DeRosa left the room. “You” she looked at Sergei. “Stay here and help Miguel! Newbie, you come with me!”

Following Agent DeRosa down the hallway, she couldn’t help but look back and stick out her tongue to Sergei. He had to stay and do research work while she could go with her supervisor. Well, that’s what he deserved for not following protocol, right?

“Showing immature behavior again, Newbie?” The Agent asked.

How did she see…?! “I-I’m sorry. It won't happen again. So, where are we going?”

“The airport. The woman at the reception gave Rex the directions how to get there.” A grim smile appeared on Agent DeRosa’s face. “We missed the unsub this time, but who knows, we might be lucky for a change.”

“Right.”

  


T **he second time Runner Five nearly caught the unsub and completed her mission was only a few hours later, when she was still “Newbie”, making her way through a huge crowd people at the airport.**

 

“Mr Gustavson?”

The dark haired man, about 50 years old, wearing a suit and an airport ID nodded. “Yes.”

“My name is DeRosa, this is my colleague, and we require your assistance.”

“I know, one of your agents called me.”

“Great, I’ll brief you while we are moving, we have no time to waste!” Agent DeRosa pointed at the security door, and Mr Gustavson hurried to open it. “This is a case of national security, I hope you have the camera footage I’ve asked for prepared for us?”

“Yes, of course.” He was in surprisingly good shape, he did neither breath heavily nor break a sweat, and seemed to have no trouble keeping up with the Agent’s fast speed. They walked along a gallery, with a great view to the departure hall of the International terminal. It was even more chaotic than usual. Newbie could easily make out the dozens of Airport employees in yellow vests trying to calm down the people. Something strange was going on down there? Why were there so many people, on a regular week day?

“The person we are looking for arrived on a motorbike, about 30 to 50 minutes ago” Agent DeRosa told Mr Gustavson. “He or she wears a big leather jacket and a dark blue helmet. He or she carries a bag, about this size, and will be heading straight for the gates. No additional luggage.” 

“I understand.”

“Are your cameras covering all the airport areas?” 

“No, only the parking spaces, the shuttle train areas, arrival and departure halls of all terminals, and the security areas.”

“What about runways and the planes?” She had been following her supervisor and the security man, listening, didn't want to interfere. But now she just had to ask.

For the first time, the man looked at her. Gustavson had seemed to be so focused on Agent DeRosa, who clearly called the shots here, that maybe he had even forgotten Newbie’s presence. “We have cameras there as well. ATC are in charge. Oh, ATC, that’s-“

“Air Traffic Control, Mr Gustavson, we know” she turned to Agent DeRosa. “We should take a look at those cameras as well.” 

DeRosa nodded. “Very well. Mr Gustavson, you know what to search for, let me know immediately if your employees find something. And now please take us to ATC.”

He seemed surprised, but then nodded. “Of course, please, follow me.”

She couldn’t help but grin a little as they followed the man down another hallway. Agent DeRosa never used many words, but the few she said were always used well. And in a way that made people do exactly what she wanted them to. That was impessive. She was glad to have her as a supervisor. DeRosa was strict, but fair. And there was a lot to learn from her. 

“Why are there so many people here?” Newbie asked. “Usually it’s not as chaotic…”

Gustavson gave her a strange look. “It’s because of the influenza of course. All flights to the UK got cancelled, most of them leave from this terminal.”

“Influenza?” Confused, she looked at Agent DeRosa for help. What kind of influenza was he talking about, and why did he give her the feeling of having to be ashamed about not knowing?

Her supervisor didn’t look very pleased either. “You didn’t hear about the new influenza, Newbie? Highly contagious, spreading overseas. Seems to be a bit more dangerous than regular influenzas, a few people have died.”

“Oh, I didn’t know. I was busy with…”

“Preparing for the mission that didn’t work out like we planned to?”

She swallowed, feeling her cheeks burn. “I’m sorry about that. We screwed up.”

“It wasn’t just your fault. And you can make it up by finding the second unsub and the ____.”

 

Agent DeRosa hadn’t even asked for the Air Traffic Controller’s name, too busy telling him exactly what they needed. The big office was made of glass to guarantee a 360 degrees view. From up here they could see each and every plane landing and departing, as well as all runways. But most people up here didn’t even look out of the window, they were busy staring at their computers, giving orders and communicating with pilots and ground staff.

The two agents paid close attention to a big screen in the corner, where the Air Traffic Controller, a young bold man, showed them video footage of the last hour.

“What about private flights?” Agent DeRosa asked. “The unsub might prefer to take the bag into the cabin, that wouldn't be possible with regular flights.”

The man pushed some buttons on his keyboard. “Here you go.”

Now that was a lot of planes. At least sixty or seventy, different sizes, different airlines, different passengers, standing there on the apron. How the hell were they supposed to find out if the unsub was on one of them? They didn’t even know if it was a man or a woman!

“Do you have a list with destinations of all these flights?” she asked. 

“Sure, just a second.” The man disappeared.

“What about this person here, it’s a black jacket…” Agent DeRosa pointed out one window on the screen. "You are the only one who saw the unsub, what do you think?"

She zoomed in, the picture got a bit blurry. “Maybe … I’m not sure … no, the bag is too small. Or at least smaller than the one on the moterbike.”

“ _Agent DeRosa, this is Gustavson, do you read me?_ ”

She took the walkie-talkie he had given her before returning to the security office. “DeRosa here. Did you find anything?”

“ _We have narrowed it down to twenty-nine passangers_.”

“Can you find out which flights they are talking, or at least which airline?”

“ _We will try_.”

“Keep me updated. Over.”

The bold man returned with a tablet PC. “Here is the list of destinations.”

“Thank you” Agent DeRosa took it, “I’ll send them over to Miguel, he will compare them to our list of possible allies. Maybe we can find out where the unsub wants to go.”

There was a small plane taxiing down apron. But wait, that was wrong! She took another look at the list in Agent DeRosa's hands. There was no Falcon scheduled to depart within the next hour.

“Sir, this Falcon 900 over there, where does it go?”

He glanced at another screen. “It’s a commercial private flight, destination London Gatwick.”

“I thought the airlines cancelled all flights to the UK due to that influenza?”

“The big airlines, yes. But you can still go there if you find someone who isn’t afraid to take you.”

She followed the plane with her eyes, as it entered the taxiway and waited for an Air France flight to leave the runway.

Agent DeRosa caught her staring. “What do you think?” 

“I don’t know … it’s just: The airports in the UK must a bigger chaos than here, with all those flights cancelled. What better place to hide than between all those people? It would be easier to avoid security controls and pass control points.”

“Interesting idea, let’s take a look at the passenger...” she stared at the screen and sighed. “We can hardly see the person entering the plane from this angle. Is there another one?”

He bold man pressed a few buttons and they got another image.

“Now this other plane blocks the view. There is someone boarding the plane, and it’s just one person. Could be our unsub.” 

She hestited. “Maybe...”

“Sir, you have to stop that plane. Now!”

The man blinked, surprised by her authorative tone. “Of course. Yamada!”

A woman with slightly Asian eyes close to the window looked up. “Yes, Sir?”

“This Falcon 900 over there is your flight, right? You need to stop it!”

She didn't ask questions, just nodded. “Oscar Oscar Alpha Charlie Tango, this is ATC, do you read me?” She waited for a second, no answer. The Air France airbus had left the runway and the Falcon started to roll again.

““Oscar Oscar Alpha Charlie Tango, do you read me? This is ATC. You are NOT cleared to take off, I repeat. NOT CLEARED TO TAKE OFF. Leave the runway immediately and return to parking position.”

Only silence on the other end. Yamada looked up. “Sir, no answer.”

“Maybe their radio broke down.”

“Maybe…” Agent DeRosa didn’t sound too convinced.

Yamada tried to contact them once more, without any success, and the plane started to move. 

“They are leaving!!" It was unnessesary to say it, but she did anyway. "Agent DeRosa, I’m not sure if our unsub is on board, but if he is…”

“There is nothing we can do now, Newbie” she bit her lip. “They are moving already.”

“Dammit… Sir, do you have a car, if I hurry…”

The Air Traffic Controller looked at her like she was completely insane. “Are you out of your mind? This is not a movie, you can’t just drive up to a plane and stop it from leaving!”

“Oscar Oscar Alpha Charlie Tango, YOU ARE NOT CLEARED FOR TAKE OFF” Yamada tried again with a steady voice. “LEAVE THE RUNWAY NOW!”

Instead of slowing down, the small plane gained more and more speed.

“Maybe we could … I don’t know … force them to land again?” All she could think about was how the unsub had saluted her in that backstreet, had been making fun of her! Not this time again!

Her supervisor rolled her eyes. “Or we shoot them down and kill the innocent crew as well.”

“There is something we have to do!”

But then it was too late. Then the Falcon 900 left the ground, while Yamada was still shouting at the radio for it to land again, rising higher and higher.

“ _Agent DeRosa, we have identified the suspects’ travel destinations._ ” It was Gustavson on the Walkie-Talkie again. “ _Do you want a list?_ ”

“Yes, Gustavson, I’ll be downstairs in a minute, prepare the list for the rest of the agents. Reinforcements should be here any second.”

“Agent DeRosa, I think…” she started.

“You think the unsub was on that plane, right?”

“I know I might be wrong, but …”

“I can’t send a whole team to the UK, not while there is a high chance he might still be here. And then there is this influenza...”

“I’ll go alone. Let me just make sure it wasn’t the unsub. I’ll go to London and talk to the pilot, ask a few questions. A couple of days is all I need. One week, maybe two.”

Her supervisor hesitated. Was it because she didn’t trust her anymore, after what had happened back at the hotel? Did she really ruin her chance to prove herself? But DeRosa just _had_ to agree! Sure, there was a good chance the passenger on this plane was someone completely different, someone else. Maybe the radio really broke down. But she just didn't believe it. She was pretty damn sure the unsub had been on the plane, leaving with the  _Aurora_ samples.

Finally, DeRosa nodded. “Okay, Newbie. Two weeks, at maximum.”

“Thank you.”

“But undercover, you understand? Operating in the UK without permission could get S.H.I.E.L.D. into big trouble, and if that _was_ the unsub and they find out who you are … keep your head down and ask your questions. You have one hour to prepare, I’ll organize a plane for you.”

“I will not disappoint you.”

 

 

**The third time Runner Five nearly caught the unsub and completed her mission was half a day later, on a different continent.**

 

Of course, the airport was full of people, and of course, it was chaotic with all flights to the US cancelled.

And of course, nobody could tell her if the passenger of the Falcon 900 was male or female, and which name he or she used. Even when she showed her fake police badge - DeRosa did say "undercover", but that was just about hiding her identity as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent - the handling agents couldn't give her any more information.

And of course the pilot and the stewardess of the private flight had disappeared into the crowd of stranded people. Just like the unsub.

Now that was not a very promising start she had hoped for.

But she was lucky, at least there was only ONE car rental service that still had cars left. So if the Unsub took the car, it was one of those.

 

"My name is Amanda Myers, I’m with the police. I need to ask you about a customer you probably had today.”

The man behind the counter only looked at her fake badge for a second, pushed his glasses back on his nose, and instantly agreed to help. “Sure, but I’m sorry, I don't know about today's customers. “I just arrived here an hour ago, because my employee fell ill."

"But there were people here to rent cars today, right?"

"Oh absolutely."

"Great, can you give me any information about the last person to rent a car. Can't be more than an hour ago?" 

"I could, of course, we copy all drivers' licences."

"Great, awesome! So can you..."

"Unfortunately our computer system broke down."

She blinked. "Pardon?"

"The computers broke down. All of them. Must be some kind of virus..."

Now how convenient was that for the unsub. "Did that happen when your employee was still around?"

"Yes, she said it happened after the last customer left. All of the sudden, all computers went out. Black. We called somebody from IT, they will send an expert to get us back online tomorrow. Everything is a bit chaotic this week."

Dammit! She would bet all her money that this sudden computer failure was not just a coincidence. The Unsub must have done it, somehow. Sure, Rex had been a professional hacker, one of the best in the States, but they had always assumed the other Unsub might be pretty good with computers as well.

Seems like they had been right about that. 

"Okay okay, so this last person, did your employee tell you if it was a man or a woman?"

"I’m afraid not."

"And you don't have any security cameras at the parking area, right?"

"We do. But they are connected to the computers as well..." he sounded really really troubled that he couldn't help her. 

Well, _of course_ they were. This unsub really got more and more annoying. “ You said your colleague was sick, but is there a chance I could talk to her? On the phone, maybe? You have her number, right?"

"I do, but..." he hesitated.

"But what?"

"It's that influenza, you see? That strange new influenza. She said it was just a cough, but I'm pretty sure she will be ill for a while. I can try to call her, but she might have a fever already. I'm not sure if she can help you."

"Please try it anyway, Sir."

Two attempts to call her failed. The woman called Lena didn’t pick up.

"No... maybe she is asleep?" her boss wondered, but he didn’t sound too convinced himself. "Should I try again? Maybe in a few minutes?"

"Please do so. Here, this is my phone number" she handed the old man her fake card. "Tell her to call me as soon as she's awake."

He looked at the card for a second, then put it down. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

“Well, is there any chance to find out where this costumer might have been going to?" She knew the answer would be no, but asked anyway. Nothing to lose, right?

After a second, his face brightened up. “There is! You see these maps over there? We give them away for free if someone rents a car. There should be 30 pieces each, if there is one missing…”

Finally some good news! It took her only three minutes to find the right map. At least she had a clue which way to go. Where to start. Maybe if she drove really fast she could still catch up. The unsub won the battle at the car rental station, but the war was not yet lost. She'd catch up. She’d get them. And she’d get the _Aurora_ samples back. Complete her mission. Return home. It was only a matter of time.

"Sir" she said. "I need a car."

 

 

**The fourth time Runner Five nearly caught the unsub and completed her mission was about a week later. It was a few days after she had heard the word "zombie" for the first time on the radio. And laughed about it.**

 

At first she had thought it was ridiculous, but now she wasn't too sure anymore. This whole damn country was going to hell!

Her mobile phone didn't work anymore, and just two days ago, her satellite phone broke down as well. No way to contact S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore. Well, at least for now. Lots of people tried to escape the big cities, cars full of food and water, and there were long queues in front of every gas station. Panic started to spread.

Was it really some kind of zombie virus, or just a highly contagious and terrible disease? A zombie apocalypse sounded a lot like some cheesy horror movie!! Then again, some things she had read about in old S.H.I.E.L.D. files did sound even more fantastic…

In her last phone call, Agent DeRosa told her that the UK had been shut off from all other countries to prevent the disease from spreading, but there had been first cases of coughing and influenza in France, Germany and Belgium already.

She didn't know yet what to make of this whole "living dead" and "zombie" rumours, but without her satellite phone, internet connection or another way to contact S.H.I.E.L.D., she decided to follow protocol. Did what she came here to do. Follow the second unsub. Secure the  _Aurora_.

During the last days she had asked dozens of people about the rental car. One of the advantages of queuing in front of a gas station for hours to get a refill: plenty of time to ask questions, and many people who couldn't get away. Not that there were many people still willing to talk to her. Most of them refused to leave their cars. And in many settlements the people hid in their houses, afraid to leave because of the disease. And afraid of foreigners who might be infected.

But a few remembered the rental car.

Of course, she was not lucky enough to get a better description of the unsub. It would have been too easy, right? But the people remembered the car, a big black pick up truck with the name of the rental company.

It was heading south. Well, now that was were she was heading as well! She decided to use a side road to escape heavy traffic jam on the streets heading away from London to more rural areas. Here, there was significantly fewer cars, she had passed the last one a few minutes ago.

The gas station she stopped at, outside a small rural town, was deserted. No, she corrected herself. Not deserted. That was not the right word, that sounded too much like a horror movie. Or a western. No, it was not deserted. Definitely not. It was just … empty. Completely empty, no one left. The glass windows of the shop were broken, but when she tried the gas pump, it worked. At least she could fill her tank.

She was about to hit the road again, when she heard noises coming from inside the station. The noises of something breaking, then a grunt. And a moan.

What the hell was that? Slowly she approached the shop, her right hand on the gun hidden in her pocket.   

“Hello?”

The noise stopped.

“Is anybody here? Are you hurt? Do you need help?”

There was a loud bang, the broken door flew open and somebody  - some _thing_ was racing towards her. Without her reflexes, she would have been lost. She pulled her gun and fired two bullets straight into the attacker's face. There was another moan, a gurgling sound, and he broke down, falling to the ground.

Her pulse was still racing, her heart beating like the base of some terrible techno sound. What the hell was that?!

Carefully, she approached the man, now not moving anymore. Was he dead?

As she got closer, she could see that he wore the uniform of the gas station, maybe an employee. Half his face was torn off, she could see the bones underneath it. And his right leg must have been broken before, there was a big wound on this tight that looked infected. And oh my God, that smell! A terrible smell came from the body, and she assumed it had nothing to do with the man's torn and dirty cloths.

It was… no, it couldn’t possible be, right? Right? That was impossible! This … thing did NOT look like a zombie, right?

Wrong.

Wrong wrong wrong.

It was a zombie. It was an actual zombie.

And as if to prove her theory, this very second the creature with the two holes in the face started twitching again. Moaning. His fingers moving. It tried to crawl. Her way!

She fired another shot into the zombies head, and two seconds later she was back inside her car, racing down the street. Trying to get as much space between the gas station and herself.

 

For the next few hours, all she did was drive, like a maniac. Passing small villages and farm houses, not stopping to ask about the unsub. There were actual zombies running around, it wasn’t just some strange disease and people panicking. Hearing about them was one thing, you could dismiss that as a rumour, but this was a whole new level of insanity. These were undead people walking around friendly British neighbourhoods! 

The sight of a pickup with the name of the rental company finally pulled her out of her thoughts that seemed to have circled around the sentence “I’m in a freaking zombie apocalypse” for the last few hours. She stopped, pulled over, waited.

There it was, the car. Standing on the sidewalk in this small town. Nobody was out on the streets, and why the hell would anybody leave the house during the freaking zombie apocalypse?! No, No! She told herself to focus. There was the car she had been chasing for a week now. Just standing there. Maybe she could finally finish her mission.

After a glance up and down the street to make sure there were no zombie surprises waiting for her, she pulled out her gun and left the car. Carefully she approached the pickup on the left side. The front window was smashed, and she could see an arm under the car’s wheels. Maybe the driver had had an unfortunate encounter with zombies?

It was empty. Simply left behind. Once she had made sure of that, she inspected it thoroughly. Maybe the unsub had left the bag with the  _Aurora_ behind while escaping in panick? But no, of course not, nothing left. Not even a damn first aid kit. Or a package of chewing gum! 

When she put her hand on the hood of the pickup, it was still warm. He couldn’t have been gone for more than two hours! A few meters away she found glass on the road. Broken window glass. Like somebody had smashed a car window to steal it. She really started to hate this unsub.

She had missed the unsub by a mere two hours! But now, without a clue what kind of car the unsub had stolen, there was no chance of finding him or her again.

Still, she wouldn’t give up. She had said she’d find the unsub, and she would. Sooner or later!

 

 

**The fifth time Runner Five nearly caught the unsub and completed her mission was more than three months later, when zombies had become a common sight, communication had broken down for good, and life had become much much different.**

 

After weeks of travelling with different groups of people through England, searching for a save shelter, always using fake names and background stories, her mission and the unsub didn’t seem as important anymore.

Surviving was her top priority at the moment, and thanks to her years of training, she was pretty good at it. She got used to the smell of the undead a few days after her first encounter with a zombie at the gas station, she didn’t feel sorry for the zombified people anymore about a week later. She learned to live with only a few hours of sleep every night, with her gun under her pillow at about the same time.

Her mission was still on, sure, but at the moment, there was nothing she could do, right? And there were more important things at hand. Until one evening, when the two siblings she was travelling with – two girls, university students travelling north to find their family – were sleeping and it was her shift to watch out for the zombies. Together with the new guy they had just met the other day.

They hid in an old fire station. Surprisingly, it that had survived the zombie apocalypse without any major damage, there was a big metal door they managed to close and barricade with desks and chairs, and although whoever was here before them had taken most of the usefull stuff, there were still some crackers left in the kitchen, a few bandages that might come in handy sooner or later, and a computer in the back office. 

They were surprised to find an old generator in one of the storage rooms, maybe to guarantee electricity even during a blackout. The twins managed to switch on the emergency lights to save battery energy in their flashlights. It was a cold light, and not very bright, but at least they could walk around without bumping into things.

A nice place, this fire station. Save for the night. After spending the last few nights outside they all appreciated it.

 

“Hey Emily, check that out!” The new guy, a journalist with arab background  who went by the name Yussuf, had spent the last hour in front of an old computer in the back room, hoping to get it to do something she didn’t quite understand.

She walked over to him. “What is it?”

“I connected  it to Rofflenet, you know, that thing that’s like internet only without the cat pictures and stuff?”

“Heard about it. I miss the cat pictures though... Are there any information about … save places we could go?”

“A few, but most of these messages are old. And lots of it is just rubbish.  The government poisoned our water supplies and stuff. The usual.”

She missed her computer, where information was available at any time. Especially because it was connected to the S.H.I.E.L.D. server with all the additional stuff normal people wouldn’t have access to. Now, there were no more pictures or icons, no databases, just letters and numbers, and this leet speak nonsense she hated so much, and it was tiring to read all this. 

Until –

“What is that? Is that a folder?”

“That Roomservice thing?” 

She nodded. “Can you open it?”

The look he gave her was priceless, and did he actually blush? “You… you want me to open this? It’s called ‘Roomservice’! I bet it’s porn.”

“Porn? It’s the freaking apocalypse! You think people use the last medium we still have for basic communication to upload … porn?” Even while she said it she realized that this is totally what some people would to. But maybe it had something to do with her mission, so… "Let's have a look at it, come on! We are both adults, if it is porn it won't traumatize us."  

He sighed, “Well, maybe not you. But I'm a guy locked into a fire station with three hot girls. Looking at strange porn on my computer might not be a clever thing to do..."

“Focus!”

“Sorry, sorry … okay, just let me ... whoa, what the hell is that?!” 

“See, no porn, just … strange numbers.” She grabbed a pen and started to write them on her arm, in the lack of paper.

“It's about two weeks old" Yussuf shrugged. "Some weirdo probably put it online. Why are you writing that down?”

“Maybe it’s some kind of riddle, don’t you think?” She smiled. “I’ve always liked riddles. And it’s not like there are many other things left to do here…”

He sighed. “I know what you mean. Damn, I miss television.”

“And internet porn?”

“Shuttup!”

She laughed. “Okay then, I’ll go back to the entrance and see if I can solve that riddle. The light is a bit better over there.”

“But don’t forget to watch out for the living dead.”

“I won’t.”

The moment she turned around her smile disappeared.

Riddle? Pah! The moment she was out of Yussuf’s sight, she grabbed a sheet of paper from her backpack and started decoding the message. She knew the virus had reached the States a while ago and she didn’t even want to imagine what was going on over there, but she assumed her colleagues had all hands full dealing with the zombies. Still someone put a lot of effort into putting this information online, someone in S.H.I.E.L.D. considered this important enough to encode it and put it on online. 

It was this message that brought her focus back to catching the unsub, back to getting the Aurora.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent wrote about a message, sent by the unsub to a potential client. Someone who was interested in the _Aurora_. “Wrong hands”, the S.H.I.E.L.D. message said. “Really wrong hands”. And they were sure this message was legit. All further information they had was the Rofflenet address of the computer the unsub used to send it. “All active agents find the unsub and secure _Aurora_. In this dangerous situation it cannot fall into wrong hands!”

That was all she needed to know. She left the siblings and Yussuf during the next day and made her way to where the unsub was. Or at least, where he or she had been a few weeks ago. She was probably the only agent in the UK, so it was up to her to get this done. She was finally catching up with him!

  

Mullins was a huge military base. When she introduced herself as Margret Wayland, former member of the US military, they let her in and gave her a job. There was a lot to do and anybody who could carry boxes, repair cars or had other qualities to offer was more than welcome. Many refugees tried to find shelter on the old military base, but only those who were fit and tough enough to fight or work were allowed to stay.

They had an interesting system here, sending out dozens of Runners every day. Fast people in good shape who could outrun zombies, searching nearby tows and villages for supplies and weapons. That way choppers, airplanes and cares could be used for more important missions.

For the first weeks, all she did was carrying boxes. The ultimate goal was of course the technical centre of the base, where they had computers and hopefully a database full of information. Within all these people here – Mullins was home to about eight or nine thousand soldiers and refugees – it was her only chance to find the unsub.

But she couldn’t risk getting caught, if the unsub knew she was here and after them, there was no chance of succeeding. So she needed to be patient. After a month her patience finally paid off, and she got to know one of the operators working in the technical centre. The woman’s name was Ann, she was with the military, had short dark hair and freckles, and was friendly and trusting – and lonely.

The two of them spend a few evenings together in one of the cafeterias, talking about everything and nothing, and a week later, after a few hours and a few well timed glasses of wine, Ann finally asked: “Margret, before all this, do you … did you … I mean, do you have someone waiting for you? A boyfriend? Or … or a girlfriend?”

Before the zombie apocalypse, she would have felt a little bit bad about using the other woman’s affections for her. She would have flirted with her - of course she would have if it was important to the mission, she was a professional after all - but she would have felt a little guilty. But things changed and she needed to find the unsub really fast, so there was no time for guilt. Her next week was dedicated to wooing Ann.

 

In week two she asked Ann for a favour.

“So this person you are trying to find” Ann had her eyes still on the monitor, maybe she wanted to sound uninvolved, although her voice said the opposite. “Is it a … a friend or yours?”

“My cousin. Or her husband, I don’t know. One of them, maybe.” She managed to sound sad, while inside she was just dying to get her hands on any information. And now Ann wanted to make small talk instead of helping! “I’ve never met either of them, our families didn’t get along well. But they are still family, right? They contacted my uncle’s old house, and they live somewhere here, so I thought … Well, I’ve got this message, maybe one of them sent it.” 

Finally, the woman from the military started to work and search her database. “This is top secret.”

“I know” she put her hand on Ann’s shoulder, just a small touch.

“Okay, well, then let’s see … Sorry, but it seems like nobody used our equipment on this day, only me and my colleagues. And we’ve all been here much longer than your cousin or her husband could have.” Ann seemed really sorry about letting her down. “We do have cameras at specific places here in Mullins, especially the gates where the refugees enter. Maybe you can spot them there?”

“It’s worth a try.”

“Oh, wait, sorry, what day do you think your cousin or her husband were here?”

“The message was sent on March the Fourth, but they might have been here before that. Maybe even for a long time.”

“If they came here before February that could be a problem."

“Why?”

“You see” Ann turned around in her chair, looking at here. “We don’t have any data prior to February, we lost all of it.”

Now that was just great! “Let me guess, computer breakdown?”

“How do you know?” 

“Just a guess. One day, all the old footage was gone and the computers didn’t work anymore?” 

“It was a huge thing” Ann nodded. “We lost a lot of important information.” 

Yes, and probably a video of the unsub entering the military base, carrying that damn bag with the _Aurora_ samples. The unsub must have realized too late that there were cameras, and after finding out made sure nobody could see him or her. What a paranoid bastard! But at least she knew now that they had been here! And she was sure the unsub wasn't here anymore. After getting caught on video she assumed they would have left immedately, afraid of more cameras.

She flung herself into the next chair. “So what now? All I have is this address and a date.” 

“Can I see it? The address that lead you here?”

“Sure” she handed the sheet over, of course the message written on it was a fake, only the adress was the original she had deciphered. Ann looked at it for a second, then she started typing into her computer, like she was onto something. “Ah, now I get it!”

She leaned forwards to get a better glimpse at the screen. Not that she could actually understand any of these abbreviations Mullins used.

There was pride in Ann’s voice, when she said: “You see, back when there was still internet, we had IP addresses to pinpoint the exact computer used for a message. Every computer had his own unique IP address.”

Although she had never been particularly talented with computers, she did know quite a bit about them, and of course she knew what an IP address was. But now she wasn’t a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. She was Magret Mayward, 24 years old, who didn’t know anything about computers at all. “Okay…”

“But now with Rofflenet it’s much more difficult. This specific address you have only tells us the average location of the computer used to send it. The sector.”

“And this sector includes more than just Mullins?” Could that be true? Could she have wasted all this time only to find out the unsub was hiding somewhere else?

“Unfortunately, yes. Maybe your cousin was here, maybe not, but this message could have been sent from one of the other settlements as well.”

She took a deep breath to calm down and cursed the unsub in her head. “So where could they be?”

“Let me see … ah, here, New Canton is in the same sector. A bit eccentric, these guys, paranoid even. Nobody gets in, nobody gets out.”

A good place to hide, maybe, but not a good place if you wanted to make a deal with somebody outside. If they were keen on keeping people inside it would be difficult for the unsub to leave and deliver the _Aurora_. Maybe not a good place to hide and make deals. 

“Then there is Brunswick, rather small, not much fire power. If your cousin is there she might be in big danger, it’s not a very safe place.”

Not the best place for the unsub and the well protected samples then…

“And there is Abel Township. A small settlement, but they are really good at defending themselves. They are holding on quite well and we are in regular contact with them. They do have Rofflenet access, and a few people with some real talent for computers." 

“Okay, Abel Township it is then! I need to get there as soon as possible” At least she had a new goal now! This township was save enough for the unsub, but obviously people could come and go, and it wasn’t too big, so she wouldn’t waste too much time if the unsub wasn’t there.

Ann’s eyes grew taller. “Are you kidding me? You want to go there _now_? I thought you’d stay here a little longer. Until everything has … you know … calmed down?”

She smiled softly and stroked Ann’s arm. “I don’t want to do this, but I have no other choice. You understand that, right?”

“I do” she swallowed hard and bit her lip. “Just, take care, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Fine then” Ann straightened her shoulders, back to being professional again. “I’ll try to find a way for you to get there.” 

“Can’t I just walk, or borrow a car?”

She furiously shook her head. “No way! It’s far, and it’s a really dangerous area. Just yesterday we got news that Skoobs was destroyed, that’s pretty close to Abel. I’m not letting you walk into your death.”

“Then what about a car?”

Ann thought for a second, then shook her head. “No chance, they won’t give you one. Too precious. But there is a supply delivery scheduled, I think…” She looked back to her screen, opening some files on her computer. “Ah yes, here it is. In two days we are delivering new tents and supplies to Abel, via chopper. They also plan to send someone to help them with the new equipment. What do you say? You’ll only have about two days in Abel, but that might be enough to find your cousin or her husband, right?” 

Only two days? That was short. Maybe too short. But she smiled. “Right, thank you. That sounds perfect.”

“You will find them, I’m sure. You are so close now, Magret.”

“I know. I’m nearly there.”

 

  

**A few months later, having survived a helicopter crash and more than one dangerous situation, having lost more friends than she could possibly bear, Runner Five (!!) finally caught the unsub.**

 

Many people were gatherin in front of the gates, waiting to head out. More than just one mission was scheduled for today, there was much to do.

Five only focused on one of them. The person she had been hunting for more than a year now. The unsub. The traitor. The person who had worked with Rex, the hacker, to steal information. To betray them. To take the only samples of the most precious and highly dangerous _Aurora_.

Finally she was looking at the unsub, knowing that it was over. It was all over. After all this time. 

She pulled out her gun, the one she had brought to the UK, the one she got when she had joined S.H.I.E.L.D., the one she had always saved for this very moment. Suddenly, many eyes were on her, confused looks. Nobody understood why she was there, pointing her gun at the people in front of the gate. No, not at all of them, just at one person.

“Why aren’t the gates opening?” The Unsub asked, innocently, still looking in the other direction.

“Because you are not going anywhere today, my _friend_ ” Five said, and she was surprised herself how cold her voice sounded.

Everybody turned around, looking at her. The unsub didn’t. “What are you talking about, Five?“

“Don’t play dumb: I know who you are, and I know what you have in that big bag. I’ve been following you for a long long time now, I knew one day I would get you!”

She could heare voices of Abel citizens, her comrades, her allies, her friends, confused, asking what the hell was going on. She ignored them, focused on the unsub.

“Hand over the _Aurora_ , now!”

For a few moments, there was complete silence. Nobody said a word. All Five could hear was her own heartbeat. Everybody looked at her in shock.

Then, the unsub slowly turned around, smiling. “Well, you got me, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Took you long enough. But the important question is: What are you going to do now?”


End file.
